Plain View Farm, Bryant, SD
DAN & BETH TEMPLETON MISSIONARY FAMILY:
AN INCIDENT WHILE ON FURLOUGH
"Two Men, Two Opposite Foundations--A True Incident" Related by Ronald Ginther
HERE COME THE TEMPLETONS!
The Templeton Family Just Starting out on Their Lifelong Ministry with New Tribes Mission in Brazil
Relatives, the Templetons, came to visit my family. They are missionaries in Brazil, and we see them only on furloughs, so as much as seven years can go by, and then sometimes many more, before we see them again. One Templeton cousin is a life-time missionary with her husband at the the Peniel Bible Institute in Jacutinga, Brazil, on the southen end of the country where the coffee grows. I had not seen her and Dan for more than seven years, and many events have gone by since our paths in life last crossed. So, with this knowledge of how fleeting time is, and the opportunity that goes with it to cultivate these special people, I was trying to make the best of the time of their brief visit, and was talking with my cousin's boys, who are actually grown men (they were boys, however, at their last visit here). We were talking about the big house on the water my brother built that extends five levels from the foundation, which is located on an insignificant plot of ground next to the beach on Tacoma's scenic Browns Point.
THE UNSEEN, UNDERLYING FOUNDATION IS THE ORIGINAL STARTING POINT HOLDING EVERYTHING UP
I asked my older brother, who was at the moment preparing barbecued steaks for the family gathering at this very house, where we stood on a deck viewing the dominating snow-covered mountain, Mt. Rainier, and busy Commencement Bay's waters being crossed by big merchant ships, about his work on the house he designed, and he said he himself had dug the house's foundation. So it was work for him and his wife even before the actual work of construction was begun--to prepare the foundation site, then make the foundation frames, then pour the concrete, and all the rest that followed to make a whole house in every detail, including the elevator. Of course, before all this, they had to buy the parcel of land, then plan the finances for the project, then design the house. It was a cliffside home IN APPEARANCE, with no actual perch on the cliff itself but only on the spot of ground at the very base of the cliff--so all this was a bit of an experiment. Fortunately, my brother is a professional architect and is very creative, and he also does construction work, with those he hires. They had help from some contractors, friends, and some family members as well (another brother, and a brother-in-law, for example, pitched in). It took an enormous about of planning, financing, and sweat-raising work to bring the whole project to the stage where we could then, ultimately, enjoy this steak barbecue with the visiting Templetons.
"YOU SHOULD TEACH THEM BUDDHISM RATHER THAN CHRISTIANITY!"
The next day, after the barbecue at Brown Point, a special meeting was given at my former church, Northwood Baptist of Puyallup, by this same family, and we listened to my cousin's husband tell how he was standing outside my brother's waterfront house and a relative of the neighbor came over, and they began chatting. The man asked what he did and where he came from, and Daniel said he was a missionary. "Oh," the man said, "you are Christianizing the pagans!" Then the man began arguing with Daniel that it was better that Daniel teach the Brazilians Buddhism, because that was "better for them than Christianity." The man next asked Daniel if he knew anything about the Gnostics. Daniel replied, yes, that he did, and that Gnosticism was a perversion of Christianity from the 1st Century. The man objected, saying it came before Christianity, meaning that Christianity had borrowed and plagiarized its teachings from the texts of Gnostic philosophers. Daniel, knowing better because he had been teaching on these questions for years in courses at the Peniel Bible Institute, informed him of the true facts, and the man quickly began losing his argument. Finally, Daniel asked the supposed authority on Buddhism, Christianity, and Gnosticism a question: "Where are you on the pilgrimage of life?" That made the man sober up a bit. He replied that he was just waiting to die. Daniel then offered to tell him about Christ, who could give him meaning for life and salvation for his soul. The man declined the offer, and that ended the conversation. They parted company, hopefully not for all eternity.
MY OLDER BROTHER SPOKE UP IN THE MEETING
My brother, hearing this story, made a remark, identifying the man as one who had never worked a day in his life. To think, this man acknowledged he was now merely waiting to die--a man ready and willing, apparently, to slide into a Christless grave!
A SIMPLE GOSPEL SONG ABOUT FOUNDATIONS IS TRULY PROFOUND
Our missionary relatives have left us, and we have some wonderful memories of fellowship, but the story of the encounter between Daniel and my brother's neighbor strikes me still very deep, and I have to ponder it. I can recall now that my cousin's parents visited us here forty years ago and taught me and my brothers and sisters to sing a medley of their missionary songs, which were easy for children to learn and sing. One was, "The Wise Man Built his House Upon the Rock," which tells of the wise man but also gives a contrast with the foolish man who built his house upon sand, so that when a storm came the foolish man's house was utterly swept away. As for the wise man, his house stood firm on its rock foundation against the storm. It is a simple song based on Christ's own words in the Gospels, but how profoundly true it is to life. How differently I would have lived my earlier life if I had only given heed to the message of this song that I knew in my early childhood!
WHAT COULD BE MORE VITAL AND PRACTICAL?
Just as Daniel challenged us all to think about foundations when he asked us, "Where are you on the pilgrimage of life?"--I have to consider my own building. Is it founded on imperishable Rock, which is Christ, or something made of perishable hay, wood, stubble, or even sand? When a storm comes against my life's "house," will all be washed away? Or will it stand firm and steadfast? Certainly, nothing could be more vital and practical for any of us to consider than Daniel's question to the spiritually-impoverished relative of the next-door neighbor to my brother--"Where are you on the pilgrimage of life?".
EXAMPLES LIKE JOB IN THE BIBLE, AND MANY SCRIPTURES SPEAK ABOUT GOOD, LASTING FOUNDATIONS
Concerning the testing of a man's life foundation, and his triumphant confession of faith in the midst of pain and trouble--life's worst storms:
"I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!"--Job 19:25-27. Note: This man of the East, Job, lost all his houses, his money and wealth, plus all his children, his means of livelihood, his happiness, his standing in the community--all were swept away in a few hours' time by a series of disasters God allowed Satan to inflict on righteous Job. His wife too was a liability instead of a helpmate, for she tempted her husband to blame God, give up all hope, and die! Yet Job passed his test and weathered the storm; he refused to curse God, and he poured out his heart's troubles to God the Almighty rather than despair and die. Ultimately, God restored him and put down his accusers, Job's friends, who said Job must have done something wicked to bring all this calamity upon his head. Job's foundation for life was well-laid, it was revealed, for it survived the greatest storms of life imaginable. From that foundation God raised an even greater life for him, overflowing with blessings, once the testing was over. Job was doubly blessed in houses, family, wealth, herds, and happiness. A good, lasting foundation is this same faith that Job had in God, that gave him strength to perservere through the worst that Satan could think to do to destroy his faith. This kind of faith is based on seeing and believing in Christ alone. As Jesus Christ testifies: "This is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of those he has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life at the last day. For it is my Father's will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life--that I should raise them at the last day."--John 6:39-40.
SONG OF THE WISE MAN AND THE FOOLISH MAN
The foolish man built his house upon the sand,
the foolish man built his house upon the sand,
the foolish man built his house upon the sand,
and the rains came a'tumblin' down!
The rains came down, and the floods came up,
the rains came down, and the floods came up,
the rains came down, and the floods came up,
and the house on the sand went WHOOSH!
The wise man built his house upon the Rock,
the wise man built his house upon the Rock,
the wise man built his house upon the Rock,
and the rains came a'tumblin' down!
The rains came down, and the floods came up,
the rains came down, and the floods came up,
the rains came down, and the floods came up,
and the house on the Rock stood FIRM!
So build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ,
so build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ,
so build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ,
for the house on the Rock stands FIRM!
Links to other pages on these Websites:
Plain View Farm Roadmap
FOR OTHER PAGES DEALING WITH FOUNDATIONS OF TWO MEN'S LIVES, ONE A WAYWARD FATHER AND THE OTHER A GODLY SON:
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